This disclosure relates generally to optical fibers, and more particularly to ferrule assemblies for fiber optic connectors and methods for changing the gender configuration of such ferrule assemblies and fiber optic connectors.
Optical fibers are useful in a wide variety of applications, including the telecommunications industry for voice, video, and data transmissions. In a telecommunications system that uses optical fibers, there are typically many locations where fiber optic cables that carry the optical fibers connect to equipment or other fiber optic cables. To conveniently provide these connections, optical connectors are often provided on the ends of fiber optic cables. The process of terminating individual optical fibers from a fiber optic cable is referred to as “connectorization.” Connectorization can be done in a factory, resulting in a “pre-connectorized” or “pre-terminated” fiber optic cable, or the field (e.g., using a “field-installable” connectors).
Many different types of optical connectors exist. In environments that require high density interconnects and/or high bandwidth, such as data centers, multi-fiber optical connectors are the most widely used. One example is the multi-fiber push on (MPO) connector, which incorporates a mechanical transfer (MT) ferrule and standardized according to TOA-604-5 and IEC 61754-7. These connectors can achieve a very high density of optical fibers, which reduces the amount of hardware, space, and effort to establish a large number of interconnects.
The end faces of MPO ferrules are aligned by the use of precision guide pins. One connector in the mated pair has guide pins protruding from the MT ferrule (“male configuration”); the other connector has two guide pin holes in the MT ferrule (“female configuration”). The guide pins on the male connector insert into the guide pin holes on the female connector, thereby aligning optical fibers terminated by the two connectors so that an optical connection can be established.
Generally, the MT ferrules for the different gender configurations of MPO connectors have the same construction but for the presence of the guide pins within (and extending from) the guide pin holes in the male configuration. The guide pins are typically retained by a component positioned rearward of the MT ferrule within a housing of the connector. Thus, the guide pins are installed during the assembly of the connector when the back end of the MT ferrule remains accessible before the ferrule is inserted into the housing. If a technician in the field needs an MPO connector with a female configuration but only has a male configuration, he or she must partially disassemble the connector to access the component that retains the guide pins so that the guide pins can be removed. The opposite is also true; if a technician in the field needs an MPO connector with a male configuration but only has a female configuration, he or she must partially disassemble the connector to properly install the guide pins. The disassembly can be time-consuming and difficult, may require a special removal tool, and risks damage to the optical fibers.